Our new Prez in his new ride

Streaming inauguration

Hulu is offering steaming, live online coverage of the inauguration on Tuesday. Check it here or on Hulu's Web site:

the big part-ay

Monday night we were the guests of our friend, State Representative Trent Skaggs, at the Missouri Governor's Inaugural Ball in Jefferson City. It was a blast. The building is magnificent and was packed out with people dressed to the nines. Offices line the perimeter of the first two floors and tables full of food and drinks lined the halls. Here's a little pictorial sampler of our night.

the beatles

ray has successfully passed on his love of the beatles to titus, who now goes to sleep every night being serenaded by the fab four. last night, when putting him to bed, titus said to me. "mom, every time i see cate or ella i start singing this song." want to guess what it was? "I Want to Hold Your Hand". he's got it bad.

bffsmias

The daily ritual goes something like this. "How was your day?" "Great. I stayed on red." "Good job buddy. What was the best part of your day?" "Recess/music/that we had pizza for lunch." But not today.

"How was your day?" "Uh, I'm so mad at Kylie. She told everything I said to everybody." "She told everybody?" "Well, no. Just Cate." "What did she tell Cate?" "That she's not my bffsm." "Your bff...s..m?" "Yeah, Cate was my bffsm but now Ella is and Kylie kept trying to hear everything she wasn't supposed to hear and then she told Cate and then Cate got mad at me because I said she isn't my bffsm." "What's a bffsm?" "Best friend forever sister marry." "Sister marry?" "Yeah, s, you love like a sister; m, you want to marry them. So ever since Ella invited me to the ball she is my bffsm and Kylie told Cate and she wasn't supposed to."

Then there were feeble attempts to try to get Titus to see that he's only six and that lovers' triangles are confusing entanglements that are best avoided by appreciating the outstanding qualities of individuals and that labels such as BFF, BF, BFFSM, BFFS...although purposeful, really can end up hurting people's feelings. Even though none of that hurts yours.

And then came a few more minutes of clarity. "So, mom, how many people can you marry?" "Only one at a time, but you can love as many people as you want. I thought Cate was the nicest person you've ever met." "She is. That's why she's my bffs...but I think I'll make her a bffsm too."

"And what about Grace Middleton?" "Just a minute. (At this point, Titus ducked down in the back seat for about 30 seconds and then returned to his perch on the console by my driver's seat.) She's my bffias. Bffias? Yeah, my best friend forever in another state."

I guess my advice about labels will need more time to soak in.

inauguration

so this will be the only year in history that we have two official inaugural letters at our place - one saying we have tickets to the presidential inauguration and one saying we are invited to the missouri governor's ball and inauguration festivities in jeff city.

kind of cool. but here's the best part. we'll get to party with our friends trent & amanda and their kiddos - ella, cora, and levi. ella and titus have been classmates for the past two years. we try very hard not to marry off our 6 year olds. the little master needed some fancy duds. it's nice that at age 6 you can get fancy duds for $20.

recently ella asked titus if he thought that going to the ball with her was kind of like a date. he said yes. she said, well it's not. all i can say is get used to it son...there is life time of confusion ahead!

edamame brittle

I am not a candy maker. But I just had to try this recipe - especially since I'm going to a party tonight that includes a mountain of confectionery goodness.

If you're not aware of edamame, then let me educate you. Edamame is a type of soy bean that is the only vegetable that provides complete protein - yep all of the amino acids are there. Anyway, we usually buy them frozen from Sam's Club. You nuke the little pack of blanched beans in their pods and then toss them with some sea salt. Delicious.

But here's the cool thing. You can use them as a substitute for peanuts and make a super tasty brittle. In contrast to peanuts, which are high in fat, edamame a low fat, high in fiber and protein of course. So although you still use a boat load of sugar, the nutritional value is very high.

Here's Alton Brown's recipe from Good Eats - The little bit of cayenne adds a great kick - the perfect balance of nutty, sweet, salty, and savory...


Ingredients

* 7 ounces dry roasted edamame
* 1 tablespoon soy sauce
* 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
* 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
* 1 pound 6 ounces sugar
* 12 ounces water

Directions

Place the edamame, soy sauce, cayenne pepper and salt into a small mixing bowl and stir to combine.

Line a half sheet pan with a silicone baking mat.

Place a 3-quart saucier inside a large cast iron skillet. Add the sugar and water to the saucier, and cook over high heat, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon, until it comes to a boil. Stop stirring, cover, and cook for 3 minutes. Uncover, reduce heat to medium, and cook until the sugar is a light amber color, approximately 25 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the edamame mixture. Working quickly, pour the mixture onto the prepared half sheet pan and spread thin with an oiled spatula. You will have to work quickly when pouring out and spreading the mixture in the pan. Cool completely, approximately 30 minutes, and then break into pieces. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.